To ask if this is a good idea re party bags?

Love this idea, fun, easy, cheap and doesn’t give off the ‘twee mum’ vibe that you mentioned so best of both worlds 🥳

Yes to this.

I'm in the US and cake is always eaten at the party.

You might get some fun size candy in a goodie bag.

The lucky dip idea is much better than having the children pick their own. If they pick their own, the last child out will get the book nobody else wanted. I really like the idea of books though.

Seeds are nice too, if you're sure every child could have access to somewhere to plant them. Maybe include a baggie of potting soil and a little pot from the pound shop.

Bubbles are also nice.

Inexpensive torches with batteries put in can be fun.

Temporary tattoos.

Stickers.

One of mine is a bookworm (we always read to them from when they were very young) and, despite having started school unable to read, by the end of Primary 2 she had a reading age of 10 (she has just qualified as an English teacher). A book in a party bag would have been right up her street but unless it was something like Horrible Histories or My Story, anything that would be appropriate for her age group would have bored her. Likewise, some of her classmates who struggled with reading would have found age appropriate books too difficult. Books in a party bag are a great idea but one of the bundles from The Works isn't going to cover the reading ability of the children.
The best party bag we ever received contained a kite, a bag of sweets and a piece of cake.

It's a nice idea, but in reality, no one really wants to leave a party with a book. It's like getting apple slices instead of fries. Give them a bag of haribo & they're happy.

Yes, please no homework for parents. I don't want to make a peg doll, thank you!

At that age my son would have preferred tat like stickers or slime or a small squishy. The books were never good ones, often terrible so never looked at again.

But tbh if you throw in a slice of cake they will be perfectly happy. And if you don't do seeds and a plant pot or anything that makes a chore for the parents, they will be happy too.

It's been done to death and the kids are always unenthused.

Why not scrap the party bag altogether? The kids will still be unenthused, but it will mean less expense/waste.

The best party bag gift we've had lately contained a decent quality magnifying glass and a spy pen. Both still played with.

I do sweet cones. Cost about 50p a child if you go to home bargains. Because you’re choosing your own sweets you can make them vegan/ vegetarian/ gluten free. I used icing bags and ribbon last time I did them as they didn’t have any sweet cone bags. Also get my dc helping put the sweets in which they think is marvellous fun 😁

We’ve been to a few who’ve done this and she’s either got it or wouldn’t read it - DD might be the only child who loathes Mr Men. But it’s generally a good idea and we’ve regifted unwanted books.

The last party we were at they did one of those sweet cones with a few different sweets in, a far cry from the very complicated stuff filled bags of the start of term last year. And you’ll never please anyone. Two kids I know hate haribo. Some people don’t have gardens. Some parents don’t like bubbles. Even with cake we’ve got various allergies of friends to consider.

Go with your idea, sounds good.

I think it’s a nice idea. My only hesitation is that when we’ve received books instead of party bags in the past, the books have been a bit crap and we’ve not ended up keeping them. So I’d just make sure that the books are half decent (and I’d add a little bag of chocolates or sweets to soften the blow of no party bags full of tat!).

My kid would be thinking where is my bag of shit that I love so much.. where is my whistle that I love annoying my mum with..

Yes I have a book from a charity shop to each kid. A fun one!

My daughter has just been to a party today and got a book in the party bag, she was delighted.
She also got a small paint your own ceramic animal. Excellent party bag.

Great idea!
My daughter had a handful of friends to her 7th party last year so did book and bubbles and they loved it!

Mini bottles are usable but those teeny thin star wand ones are not!

It's nice, lots of parties my two have been to have done this. But kids will ask (hopefully in private) where's the party bag and that's including my children who are big readers - some of the book sets people give out aren't great or they've already got.

Kids love a bag of tat. I'd do paper bag with cake, sweet or chocolate thing and something like Lego mini figure or those blind bag toys in whatever theme is popular - which at least get kept a bit longer and played with.

Like I said i've yet to meet a small child who isn't excited by bubbles. Are the little pots a bit crap, sure, but they still enjoy them. As for getting one in every party bag, isn't that the point of the thread? It's clear that there are a lot of parents who give out seeds, books, sweets or just a piece of cake, rather than a party bag of plastic, and that includes the pots of bubbles.

Everyone I know does this - I’ve been doing this since my kids were 3.

Surely no 5 year old is excited by a pot of bubbles? Especially those rubbish tiny bottles. They get one in every party bag.

Surely at age 5 it is a book that parents will read to kids. 5 year olds in reception can't really read anyway

Just buy the brown paper bags in home bargains (the type you can put a packed lunch in).

Then you still get the advantage of a bag to make a quick exit/not fight over who gets what.

Or home bargains do good sticker books for 59p. We've used those before. Or the little sticker mosaic things.

Go for it...but the kids will be disappointed! Mine always is when it's a book, even though he loves to read.

It's fine, but my experience is that it looks virtuous to parents but is less enjoyable for dc.

Do you even know you've been to a party if you don't leave with a punch balloon and tiny yoyo?!